Railway-signal



W. I. SMITH.

RAILWA'Y SIGNAL.

APPLICATION FILED IuLY 23,19I9.

A TTOIGNEV W. I. SMITH.

RAILWAY SIGNAL. APPucATloN man 1uLY23,1919.

Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

z//fy/f swf/ ATTORNEY WILLIAM I. SMITH, OF STOCKTON, KANSAS.

RAILWAY-SIGNAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patent-ed Apr. eo, 1920.

Application filed July 23, 1919. Serial No. 312,792.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, vWILLIAM I. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stockton, in the county of Rocks and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Signals;` and l do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and ligures of reference marked thereon, which form a partl of this specifica-tion.

This invention relates to railway crossing signals and is primarily intended to warn highway travelers or' the approach of a train in the vicinity of a crossing so as to reduce the liability'ot accidents or wrecks at points where the crossings are not provided with special attendants.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide means which will insure the ringing of a bell or the sounding of an alarm or other suitable signal at a point distant from the approaching` train so that persons in the vicinity of the crossing will be apprised of the approach of the train in time to avoid accidents.

`While the invention is primarily intended for railroad crossings, it is obvious that it is capable of being usedas a signal wherever expedient and, therefore, lV would have it understood 'that l reserve the right to install the device in any appropriate place without sacriiicing any ot the advantages thereof.

ln the drawings, y

Figure l is aperspective view of a portion of a track and a crossing, showing my invention installed, part of the casing being shown in section.

Fig. ll is a detail View of the pivot bracket for the clapper 4actuating arm.

TIT is a vertical vlongitudinal sec tional view through a slightly modified form of my invention, and I Fig. IV is a sectional view on the line lV-IV of Fig. III.

Referring now to the" drawings by numerals ci? reference:

l designates a section of a track provided with an appropriate crossing 2. At a suitable point along the track is a pivoted actuator consisting of a lever 3 pivoted to the web 4 of a rail on a suitable pivot 5. The

lever 3 is bifurcated at its upper end to support a roller 6 which may be engaged by the tread of a wheel passing over the track so as to tilt the lever and cause the segmental gear 7 on lever 3, which meshes with pinion 8, to rotate the pinion and consequently, rotate the shaft 9 to which the pinion is atxed. The shaft 9 carries a trigger or trip linger 10 adapted to contact with the end ll of the pivoted lever l2, supported by the bracket arms 18 so that as the end ll is moved upwardly by the nger or trigger 10, the major portion l2 of the lever will be forced downwardly, exerting tension onthe flexible con nection le connected to the weight 15, which is held by a tension spring 16 supported at its upper end by the finger 17 or" the elbow lever 18 pivoted to the bracket 19. The arm 20 of the elbow lever carries -a counter-balance weight 2l and projects through a slot 22 in a stop plate 23. The free end of the lever 2O is provided with a clapper spring arm 2d carrying a hammer head or weight 25, adapted to alternately strike the gongs 26 and 26 between which the clapper head moves.

The entire mechanism, with the exception of the lever 3 and segment 7, is incased in a suitable housing 27, from which may lead a conduit or pipe 28 extending from a point distant from the crossing to a point in proximity thereto, where it terminates in an upstanding tubular member 29 with a resonant hood 30 so that the sound generated in the casing 27 will be conveyed through ythe tube 28 to the member 29 and through the hoodBO in proximity to the crossing or other suitable point.

The upstanding tubular portion 29 may communicate with a tubular portion 28', corresponding' to 28, but running in the opposite direction, Aand which may connect to the housing 27, containing' all of the apparatus shown in Fig. l but at a distant point on the other side of the crossing so that a signal will be sounded if train is moving in either direction.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that as the train'travels over the track and the wheel 6 is engaged, the shaft 9 will be turned by the pinion 8, causing the end il to be moved upward and the end l2 of the lever to move nownward, putting the spring 16 in tension. As the linger or trigger l0 moves out of Contact with. the heel or eX- tension 1l ot lever l2, the tension on spring 16 will be relieved and the arm 20 may strike against the edge of the lreeper plate so as to cause a rapid vibration of the clapper arm 24 and cause the head to rapidly virate between the gong elements 26 and 26', and since the sound will be insulated by the casing surrounding the parts, the signal will be audible through the hood 30.

The construction is such that the spring 16 and weight 15 will cause the lever 18 to rapidly vibrate for a considerable period after the trigger 10 is moved out of contact with 11 and at each vibration of the lever arm 20, the clapper arm will receive additional vibrations by striking against the edges or the plate 22. When the wheel of the car has passed over the roller 6 so as to turn the pinion 8 and shaft 9 to bring 10 into contact with 11, the lever 3, segment 7, pinion 8 and trigger 10 will move back to normal position, as shown in Figs. I and II, but the signal actuating arm 18 and clapper arm will continue to vibrate for an appreciable period thereafter, lestimated to be long enough to permit a continuous operation of the signal between the time that the wheel leaves roller 6 until it has passed the crossing.

In Figs. III and IV I have shown a slightly modified form of my device in which the lever 3, roller 6 and segment 7 are of the saine construction as shown in Fig. I. In this form the segment 7 engages a rack 31 to operate a piston rod 32 of the piston 33 in cylinder 34, the piston being normally retracted by the spring 35, one end of which bears against the cylinder 34 and the other against the collar 36. 'When the piston is actuated to air compressing position, the air flows from cylinder to pipe 37 into a cylinder 38 to actuate a piston 39 against an expansion spring 40 in said cylinder. The piston rod 41 for piston 39 is provided with ratchet teeth 42 to engage the teeth of a pinion 43 on shaft 44, which carries a trigger 45 to operate a pivoted lever 46 connected to a pivoted segmental arm lever 47 through the medium ot the tension sprin 48, Weight 49 and flexible connection 50. f 46 is moved downwardly to set the weight and spring 48 in vibration when trigger 45 leaves contact with 46, the lever arm 5l, pivoted at 52, will begin to vibrate in the slot 5 3 of plate 54 so that the spring arm for the clapper head 56 will be set in vibration in addition to the vibration or' the arm 51 and thereby act as a tappet against the bell elements 57 and 58 to constitute an alarm.

The portion 59 of pipe 37 is provided with check valves 60 and 61 operating in opposite directions, and the portion 59 is provided with a branch 62 adapted to communicate with a mechanism similar to the piston 33, cylinder 44, etc., shown in Fig. III.

.. Therefore, if a train is moving in an opposite direction on the right hand side of the crossing alarm, as shown in Fig. III, the air will pass through 62, open check valve 61 but close the oppositely opening check valve 60, and actuate the piston 39 with its appurtenances to sound the alarm. If, however, the train is traveling from left to right, as shown in Fig. III, the air will be compressed in cylinder 34, opening check valve 60 and closing check valve 61, so that the air will exert pressure against the piston 39 and operate the signal. Therefore, the signal will be operated by a car passing on either side of the crossing in ample time to safeguard against accidents bei'ore the train or car reaches the crossing.

In order to maintain the arm 51 in neutral position when the signal is not in use, I may employ a spring 63, one end of which is connected to the standard 64 and the other to the arm 51.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that the operation of the signal will be insured whenever a train passes over a rail equipped with the operating mechanism, that either orm of the device is capable of insured operation, that the mechanism is simple in construction, inexpensive, and well adapted to perform the function for which it is intended.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

l. In a railway signal, a clapper arm, an elbow lever carrying said arm, a coil spring suspended from the elbow lever, a weight carried by the spring, a loosely mounted lever connected to the Weight, a swinging linger to actuate the loosely mounted lever, and a means in proximity of the rail to be actuated by a passing car to impart movement to the loosely mounted lever.

2. In a railway signal, a lever, means for attaching the lever to the web oi a rail, a segment carried by the lever, a swinging finger, means moving in response to the segment to swing said linger, a vibratory spring, a lever actuated by the finger to cause the spring to vibrate, a pivoted elbow lever having one end connected to the spring, a clapper on the other arm of the lever, and gongs between which the clapper vibrates.

- 3. In a railway signal, a lever, means for attaching the lever to the web of a rail, a segment carried by the lever, a swinging finger, means moving in response to movement of the segment to swing said finger, a vibrating spring, a lever actuated by the linger to cause the spring to vibrate, a pivoted elbow lever having one end connected to the spring, a clapper on the other arm of the lever, a gong between which the clapper vibrates, and a counter balance weight on the clapper arm.

4. In a railway signal, a clapper arm, an In a railway signal, a clapper arm, a elbow lever carrying said arm, a coil spring coil spring connected thereto, a loosely suspended from'the elbow lever, a loosely mounted lever connected to the spring, a mounted lever connected to the spring, a swngingly mounted lever actuator, and

5 swinging finger to actuate the loosely lmeans in proximity to the rail to be actu- 15 mounted lever, a shaft upon which the nger ated by a passing car to impart movement to is mounted, a gear on the sha-ft, a rack for the loosely mounted lever actuator. actuating' the gear, and means movable in In testimony whereof I affix my signature. response to pressure of a car wheel for 10 actuating the rack. WILLIAM I. SMITH. 

